With the growth in demand for ready-to-eat meals, there has been a growth in the demand for components of ready-to-eat meals, such as pre-cooked protein products. In particular, there has been a growth in the demand for pre-cooked and pre-cut proteins, such as gyro slices, chicken or fish tenders, fajita strips, as well as vegetarian protein options. These types of prepared protein products are typically made from protein loafs that are formed of compressed ground or whole muscle proteins, or may include plant-based proteins, that are subsequently cooked and cut in separate steps.
Currently, a typical process for preparing and cutting these types of pre-cooked protein products includes the steps of: (1) injecting a protein loaf with flavorings and/or preservatives; (2) cooking the protein loaf on a belt grill or a spiral cooker; (3) transferring the cooked protein loaf to a pre-chiller machine to reduce the temperature of the protein loaf; (4) transferring the protein loaf from the pre-chiller to a conveyor feeding a cutting machine for slicing the cooked protein loaf; (5) cutting the protein loaf at the cutting machine; (6) transferring the sliced protein product from the cutting machine into a freezer; and (7) packaging the frozen sliced protein product with a packaging machine.
Typical apparatuses used in the process of cooking and slicing include a cooker, a pre-chiller and a cutting machine, all of which are separate apparatuses. It is common for the protein loaf to be pre-chilled prior to cutting to prevent the squeezing of moisture from the protein loaf that can occur when it is still hot. When the protein loaf is cold, less moisture is lost during the cutting step. This is one reason why hot slicing has been avoided in the industry.
Further, in the typical apparatuses, systems and methods as described above, if char (or other browning) is applied to the protein loaf, charring only occurs at a top surface of the protein loaf, so only a portion of the sliced protein product receives the flavorful char while the remainder of the protein product underneath the top surface does not receive the char.